Fresno County to reduce mental heath services

FRESNO, Calif. 
State budget cuts are forcing Fresno County to cut its mental health services.

Officials say the county will end a mental-health program for children, delay plans for a psychiatric unit for adults, and reduce other programs.

Counties across the San Joaquin Valley are cutting mental-health services after Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger decided last month to slash $64 million in managed-care funding from this year's state budget.

Fresno County will see its managed-care funding, which goes to programs for low-income residents, reduced by half this year to $4.9 million.

The loss in funding represents less than 7 percent of the county's mental-health budget, but the cuts follow several years of reductions in mental-health services.